Thursday, June 1, 2017

Oral Questions

Wind turbines

Ms. Lisa M. Thompson: My question is for the Premier. Speaker, either the Minister of Environment and Climate Change is unable to manage his own staff or he instructs them to circumvent existing rules.

According to Global News, there is confirmation that between 2006 and 2014, his ministry chose to ignore thousands of noise and health complaints against industrial wind turbines. Just this past April, the minister shared how proud he is of his staff. But, Speaker, this is not a record to be proud of. Out of thousands of complaints, more than two thirds were ignored.

Will the Premier instruct this minister ...

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(Ms. Thompson)

... a record to be proud of. Out of thousands of complaints, more than two thirds were ignored.

Will the Premier instruct this minister to do his job and investigate all of the complaints that he is receiving on industrial wind turbines from every corner of this province, especially those related to tonal noise?

Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: I know that the Minister of the Environment will want to comment.

I also know that we take concerns from community members very, very seriously on a full range of issues. I’ve spent an enormous amount of time over the years listening to and talking to people who are concerned about wind turbines.

In fact, when I became the Premier we changed the rules about municipal input and the siting of wind turbines.

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): I’m reading the signals and I’m prepared to do that.

Premier?

Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: I know that the member opposite knows that under the current rules municipalities have much more authority to indicate whether they are willing hosts or not—

Interjection.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The member from Elgin–Middlesex–London will come to order.

Supplementary? The member from Elgin–Middlesex–London.

Mr. Jeff Yurek: Back to the Premier:

This government is forcing municipalities like Dutton Dunwich to accept some of the province’s largest turbines. The planned project in Dutton is the Strong Breeze Wind Project. They’re forcing them even though a poll conducted by the municipality showed that 84% of residents strongly oppose the project, as did the municipality.

Now we’re hearing the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change has ignored thousands of noise complaints. Not only are the residents forced to accept wind turbines, they must now know that the ministry will not help them and ignore all the problems caused by wind turbines.

This government has already admitted they do not need energy that would be created by the Strong Breeze project in Dutton Dunwich.

Will the Premier do the right thing and listen to the municipalities who say no and cancel the Strong Breeze Wind Project in Dutton Dunwich?

Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: Minister of the Environment and Climate Change.

Hon. Glen R. Murray: First of all, I was not the minister in that period of time—

Interjection.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The member from Leeds–Grenville.

Carry on, Minister.

Hon. Glen R. Murray: Not only do we take these seriously, in the three years since I’ve been minister, and I assume in the period before, I have met with numerous people. We’re working with the member from Huron–Bruce on the K2 project. There is extensive testing going on. We are including and adding tonal testing, which is very important. We are expanding ???. I’ve talked to folks in the community; they are very concerned. We are working with them. We are not ignoring these things.

It’s passing curious to me that they never raise issues about nuclear waste, they never raise issues about coal pollution, about challenges of electric transmission lines; they only attack renewable green energy. They have a singular obsession with anything that reduces greenhouse gas emissions.

This is the party that—

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Thank you.

Final supplementary? The member from Haliburton–Kawartha Lakes–Brock.

Ms. Laurie Scott: Back to the Premier:

On Global News, the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change claimed that industrial wind turbine noise complaints are isolated to one project up in Huron–Bruce. But these concerns are not isolated. The proposal for Snowy Ridge, a project in my riding, was reviewed by a former MOECC employee who pointed out flaws in the project. The employee’s assessment was redacted from the appeal process, two expert noise witness statements were redacted, the concerns of three residents were redacted, yet the minister—and he was the minister at the time—claimed that there were no expert witnesses to support health concerns.

The minister claims to take this issue seriously but how can the minister explain this blatant scheme to redact information and hide the facts? Your employees are even telling you.

Hon. Glen R. Murray: So, Mr. Speaker—

Mr. Steve Clark: The minister of redaction.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The member from Leeds–Grenville, second time.

And we’ll discuss warnings later.

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(Speaker Levac)

… Leeds–Grenville, second time. We’ll discuss warnings later. Finish, please.

1050

Hon. Glen R. Murray: The party opposite, whose leader spent years in Ottawa denying climate change, actively undermining the efforts of Quebec and Ontario attacking—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): It starts up again, I’ll go to warnings to those banging their desks to prevent answers. Minister, finish, please.

Hon. Glen R. Murray: The party opposite made the claim for the better part of 10 years that wind turbines cause health problems. This government spent a considerable amount of money hiring the leading experts and did medical research, as did the federal government, and found out the totality of the opposition party’s claims were completely bogus and like so much, not science-based. The creationist party, the climate-denier party, doesn’t like—

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Thank you. New question.

Wind turbines

Ms. Sylvia Jones: Back to the Premier. It’s no surprise to me to learn from Global that the minister has failed to investigate noise and health complaints related to industrial wind turbines. Liberal ministers have been ignoring homeowners in Dufferin–Caledon for over 10 years. In 2011, I asked the Minister of Environment to help the Whitworth family when the doctor recommended they leave their home because of noise and electrical pollution. In 2013, the Whitworths received a one-sentence e-mail from the Minister of Environment that said, “The ministry has closed your file at this time and the minister will not be taking any action on your complaint.” Will the Premier do the right thing and reopen the Whitworths’ file?

Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: Mr. Speaker, as I said in answer to the first question, I am and have been very concerned about the community reaction to the siting of wind turbines. I met with many groups over a period of years. I sat with them. I listened to their concerns. I made sure—I made sure that—

Interjection.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The member for Dufferin–Caledon, come to order. Finish, please.

Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: I made sure that we had studies in place, Mr. Speaker. I made sure that we worked with the federal government as the Health Canada studies were done. We made changes in terms of siting—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The member from Dufferin–Caledon, second time. Carry on.

Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: We made changes in terms of the siting of wind turbines. We gave more responsibility and more authority to municipalities. We have made changes, Mr. Speaker, based exactly on the concerns that the members opposite are raising.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Supplementary?

Mr. Jim McDonell: Speaker, to the Premier. Her minister is either willfully uninformed of the number of complaints about wind turbine noise filed with his department, or deliberately neglectful of his duty. One of my constituents complained about how measurements were improperly conducted in the Nation Rise wind project. Now I know for a fact that the minister’s own account and his constituency office were CC’d in the complaints. He says there was only one complaint, but as reported on Global news, there were thousands.

People across Ontario deserve answers and a resolution to the complaints. This government recently stated that, because of the surplus of power, they were cancelling the next round of energy projects. Will the Premier do the honourable thing and order her minister to put an immediate stop to all wind turbine developments until the massive backlog of complaints can be addressed?

Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: Again, Mr. Speaker, we have worked to respond to concerns. We have responded to concerns of the municipalities. I take these concerns very seriously and we have worked to address them and we will continue to work with—

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The member from Dufferin–Caledon is warned. Premier?

Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: Mr. Speaker, I have to ask the question. Is it not that this party does not want to talk about the reality that we are making changes in this province that they are labeling as “too much too soon,” because they are going to help people, the changes that we are making, as in the development of green renewable energy helps people, helps kids with asthma, cleans up the air—this party doesn’t want to talk about a $15 minimum wage. This party doesn’t want to talk about 100,000 child care spaces. Their—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Stop the clock. Be seated, please. The member from Nepean–Carlton will come to order. Next time I have to stand for this kind of thing, we’ll go to warnings …

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(The Speaker)

The member from Nepean–Carleton will come to order.

Next time I have to stand for this kind of thing, we’ll go to warnings.

Final supplementary.

Mr. Sam Oosterhoff: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, it’s past time that the Premier paid attention. Hydro bills have skyrocketed by over 300%. Expensive and counterproductive power subsidies for turbines we don’t want or need have contributed to the soaring energy prices that are the greatest burden people are facing, yet this government has ignored the thousands of complaints they’ve received. This Liberal government has not paid attention to the many petitions MPPs have presented regarding this issue; nor have they paid attention to their own communities. Some of the 90 unwilling communities are in several of their ridings as well.

Just a few weeks ago, this government had the opportunity to reverse their folly when my motion for a moratorium came forward. Respect for local decision-making was at hand, but they voted it down. Why does the Premier continue to ignore and dismiss everyone’s concern?

Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: Mr. Speaker, that’s absolutely not the case. I have met with folks in that member’s own riding of Binbrook and heard their concerns—

Interjection.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The member from Huron–Bruce, second time, and the member from Bruce–Grey–Owen Sound. I’ve got a good memory.

Carry on.

Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: As I said, Mr. Speaker, I believe this party really does not want to talk about the concerns of people who believe that having a fair workplace, having a $15-minimum wage is important. Their leader has made it clear he thinks that is too much too soon, but I would ask, is it too much too soon for the 30% of Ontarians right now who make less than $15 an hour? Is it too much too soon for part-time workers to get paid the same as full-time workers?

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): Your time is up, Premier.